Farm Animal Welfare

Pig Weaning: A Critical Welfare Period

Weaning is one of the most welfare-significant events in a pig's life, with the transition from sow to nursery involving social disruption, dietary change, and immune challenge.

Key Facts

Commercial pigs in the EU are weaned at minimum 28 days, earlier than natural weaning at 12-17 weeks
Post-weaning diarrhoea is a major health and welfare challenge driven by gut microbiome disruption
Early weaning creates social stress from separation and mixing with unfamiliar pigs
Weaning environment quality including warmth, bedding, and creep feed access significantly affects welfare
Later weaning ages improve welfare outcomes but reduce sow productivity in commercial systems

Welfare Considerations

The weaning transition represents one of the most stressful periods in a pig's life, combining separation from the mother, dietary transition, social disruption, and immune challenge simultaneously. Later weaning ages, higher quality nursery environments, and better transition diet management all improve welfare outcomes. The minimum 28-day weaning age represents a compromise between sow productivity and piglet welfare.

What You Can Do

Support campaigns for later minimum weaning ages for pigs
Choose pork from farms with documented welfare-focused weaning management
Advocate for weaning welfare to be explicitly addressed in pig welfare standards
Donate to research improving pig weaning welfare outcomes